Santander Must Refund Losses Player Suffered Gambling at Offshore Casinos

The UK's Financial Ombudsman Service has ordered Santander to refund a customer's gambling losses after the bank failed to block the card he was using to bet with an offshore casino.

The man, named only as Mr R, received £25,000 ($33,600) from a house sale on July 18, 2025. His gambling blocks never triggered because the overseas sites did not label their payments as gambling, according to the decision.

The case shows how a standard bank gambling block fails against unlicensed casinos. Those blocks look for a gambling code on each card payment, and offshore sites that skip it pass straight through.

Santander Blocks the Wrong Account

Mr R called Santander on Aug. 15, 2025, said he had a severe gambling addiction and asked for help. He had already spent around £16,000 ($21,500).

After a second call on Aug. 21, Santander blocked online payments on his basic account. He kept gambling through a top-up card account that stayed open until Oct. 1. The ombudsman wrote that "in effect Santander failed to block the only account he was gambling from."

Santander argued it made no error and that Mr R controlled his own blocks. The ombudsman found no evidence he gambled once the correct blocks went on.

In my view a reasonable response would have been to make it clear that only an online block would have prevented the transactions he was undertaking.

Ombudsman Ray Lawley wrote that in the final decision, which upheld the complaint.

Refund Covers a Month of Losses

Santander must refund all gambling losses, less winnings, from Aug. 15 to Sept. 17, 2025, the day Mr R took his complaint to the ombudsman. The bank also owes 8% interest on each payment and £500 ($670) for distress.

The ruling lands as UK regulators study the offshore market. In bank data the Gambling Commission published in October, 45% of people paying illegal gambling sites scored as problem gamblers, compared with 6% of licensed-site customers.

The decision gave Mr R until Oct. 12, 2026, to accept it. The published version does not say whether he did.

Treat gambling as entertainment you pay for. 18+, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, help exists at BeGambleAware and GamCare.